HUBBALLI: The stage is set for Invest Karnataka Hubballi Conference on Friday to attract investment in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, especially of North Karnataka. This event was planned immediately after Jagadish Shettar took charge as the Minister of Commerce and Industry a few months back. Since the State government is holding the global investors meet in November this year, this event could be a prelude for that mega meet.
The Hubballi conference is being held here at Dennisons Hotel where a huge air-conditioned tent is installed. The event starts with an Industry Talk on ‘Strength of North Karnataka Region’ at 10 am in which experts from the region will explain about resources available for creating the best industrial atmosphere. Later, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa will inaugurate the conference along with Union ministers D V Sadanand Gowda, Pralhad Joshi and Suresh Angadi, and Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar.
After the lunch, a separate session will be held on the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector, in which the industry experts will take part. Also, a Memorandum of Understanding would be singed with investors in presence of top functionaries from both sides. Later in the valedictory, Deputy Chief Ministers Govind Karjol, Ashwath Narayana and Laxaman Savadi will take part.
On Thursday, both Shettar and Joshi visited the venue of the event and took stock of the final preparation along with the top officials of the Industries Department. Speaking to reporters, they said that as of now representatives of over 700 industries are expected to take part in the event.
The event will be historical as there has been no such congregation of industries outside Bengaluru, Shettar and Joshi added. Stating that the Union government is also extending support to this endeavour of the State government, Union Minister Joshi said, “Representatives of Tata, Hinduja, Adani, Godrej, L & T and some larger companies will be here,” he said.